Pull Quote: “This body, which was intended to be advisory and to work for the development of self-regulation of the private-owned media, has assumed the posture of a legal authority with powers to direct punitive action against certain privately owned media in Guyana”- Robert CorbinHaving taken a back seat recently to allow for his party to be engaged in the campaign with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Robert Corbin, was yesterday critical of President Bharrat Jagdeo for what he described as a spurious statements.Opposition Leader Robert CorbinCorbin was also critical of the President’s failure to address a serious anomaly, namely with the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB).The ACB is the body whose recommendation President Bharrat Jagdeo said he was acting on when he suspended CNS TV 6 for four months this week.Corbin, during a special press briefing yesterday to address the matter, told media operatives that he had on several occasions pointed out that the credibility and legality of the ACB as constituted was questionable.“During the well publicised constructive engagement in 2003 between President Jagdeo and me, we agreed that the then ACB should have been reconstituted. Consequently, acting in good faith of our agreements, I notified President Jagdeo, by letter dated 16th October 2003 of my intention to replace the nominee of the Leader of the Opposition with immediate effect.”Corbin was referring to the appointment of Ronald Case who was appointed to the Committee upon nomination by the former leader of the Opposition and late President Hugh Desmond Hoyte.In that letter to the President, Corbin stated, “it was agreed that the ACB should be reconstituted. It was never expected that such a temporary body would have been in existence for such a long period of time.”Corbin in the letter also stated “I wish, therefore,Cheap NFL Jerseys, to formally notify you of my intention to replace the nominee of the Leader of the Opposition, with immediate effect, and state formally that I have no confidence in the manner in which the ACB has been discharging its mandate.”He had also at that time suggested that the operations of the ACB be suspended “until the matters are properly clarified and the body fully reconstituted”.President Jagdeo,China Jerseys, during a recent press briefing, told the media that he was merely acting on the recommendation of the ACB. He repeatedly emphasized that the opposition nominee was a party to it.Corbin in the letter to Case at the time when he had also informed the President of the withdrawal stated inter alia, “I have made no secret of the fact that I have been very dissatisfied with the manner in which the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting? (ACB) has been discharging its mandate.”He had in the missive stated, “This body, which was intended to be advisory and to work for the development of self-regulation of the private-owned media, has assumed the posture of a legal authority with powers to direct punitive action against certain privately-owned media in Guyana. This could never have been the intention or expectation of my predecessor, the late Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Hugh Desmond Hoyte“The public perception, with which I concur, is that the ACB is on a crusade to silence any private media which dares to publish views that may be unacceptable to the government. Consequently, the body has been unable to generate public confidence in the discharge of its functions.”Corbin also told media operatives that the President and the then Minister responsible for the administration of the Postal and Telegraph Act, Samuel Hinds,Wholesale NBA Jerseys, adamantly refused to honour his notification and sought to justify their retention of Case.The Opposition Leader stated that it is significant that President Jagdeo, who refused to act upon his notification then,NFL Jerseys Outlet, proceeded to name a new Chairman of the ACB, (Evan Persaud replaced Pat Dyal), and to appoint a new nominee of the Private Sector Commission, (Norman McLean replaced Carlton James), without giving the Leader of the Opposition an opportunity to name a new nominee or even notify him of the changes.“This matter has been in the public domain for years, yet President Jagdeo did not have the decency to address this serious anomaly,” Corbin charged.He asserted that Ronald Case could not be under any illusion that he was representing the Leader of the Opposition and that he was a nominee of the Leader of the Opposition on the ACB.“On the same day I notified President Jagdeo of my intention to replace him, I wrote Mr. Case directly, thanking him for his services and notified him of my intention to replace him as my nominee with effect from